Discrimination will always exist but Black Americans who want to make something out of themselves will do so and the ones that want to whine and complain all day will keep doing that as well. Same goes for any other ethnicity.

Nighthawk wrote:Discrimination will always exist but Black Americans who want to make something out of themselves will do so and the ones that want to whine and complain all day will keep doing that as well. Same goes for any other ethnicity.

Nighthawk wrote:Discrimination will always exist but Black Americans who want to make something out of themselves will do so and the ones that want to whine and complain all day will keep doing that as well. Same goes for any other ethnicity.

There may be no jobs, but work is always there.

Not to mention affirmative action policies and according to the article blacks still had highest unemployment than any other group at 7.3 percent back in 2000 when the economy was at its strongest.

This is true but its not as simple as just "doing it" like it is for being a white man. A white man is not judged the moment he walks into a place looking for work. Everyone assumes a white man is educated, kind, and not a criminal. The societal perception is that white men are affluent and capable. The list goes on and on. Contrast this with the social perception of black men, especially if GOD FORBID you have any hint of "ghetto" in you, even the slightest accent or way of speaking or acting that indicates you come from a poor black neighborhood. As a black man, you are automatically being judged by potential employers as incapable, stupid, and ignorant just for being black. Its assumed you may be a criminal. These things are not conscious, but it is exactly how society has conditioned us to think of blacks and whites.

Now, an open minded manager who does not have these biases is rare. Rarer still is a manager who interviews a black man who has a hint of "ghetto" in them and still sees a human being in them, someone who is capable or who has the capacity to be a hard worker. Especially in a work environment where you have hundreds of applicants for a job, in the minds of hiring managers there is no need to "risk" giving a black man a job.

These things are not spoken out loud, indeed most people who see the world this way are not even aware of it because they have been deeply conditioned by media and the attitudes and perceptions of those around them. But from the very beginning blacks have the cards stacked against them. Equality is a myth that has yet to be realized. Basically, white men are capable and intelligent until proven otherwise. Black men are incapable and ignorant until proven otherwise. White men are considered to be legally abiding citizens until shown otherwise, the opposite is true for blacks. This greatly changes the ability of a black man to get work, regardless of how honest, caring, intelligent or good of a worker he is. Regardless if whether or not he actually has a criminal past. Furthermore, whites are "redeemable", if you are white and have a criminal past, you can turn your life around. Not so for blacks.

This is compounded by the fact that blacks are one of the most oppressed and impoverished groups of people in America and therefore they are born into a world where they will receive really poor education in poorly run schools, an will be living in a world of much desperation and therefore crime. Crime almost always arises from desperation of some kind. Nobody comes into this world wanting to be a criminal of any kind. Therefore, many of them have an uphill battle from the moment they are born in ways that someone like myself, a white male from a middle class suburb, does not and has not ever had to deal with nor can even really understand fully. Its easy to say they just need to "do it" but the grim reality is that most of us, in the same situation, would be no better off than they are. Poverty and a lack of education is the problem, and not skin color, so anyone is susceptible to the problems black America faces. Again, white men are born on top and its their own choices that make them "fall" to the bottom. Black men are often born on the bottom and have to fight their way to the top.

In general, overall, its unfair and unequal. Racism still exists, and slavery exists in its own form too. We only have to look as far as the unfair judicial system to see how this is so. Whites are let off with a slap on the wrist for the same crimes that blacks are given maximum sentences for. Therefore, basically, we enslave blacks in an unfair manner by putting them in prisons and making them work for the government where they make a few dollars a day. Just like historical slavery, you are kept and treated like an animal. If you act out, you are punished immediately with violence from "guards" and then further slavery.